35p each? That’s just daylight rob-berry

EVERY year around this time, I get excited at the prospect of locally grown strawberries and raspberries from the Carse of Gowrie being sold in farm shops.

But it was in Edinburgh that I spotted my first punnet and they looked tremendous – plump, firm, bright red and juicy.

The blackboard behind told customers they were organically and locally grown. Then I saw the price. £3.50. I’m not sure it’s the Edinburgh mark-up – the capital is one of the most expensive places to live in the UK after all – or the cost-ofliving crisis which is raising the prices of everything from food and drink to beauty services and homes.

But when I counted them there were 10 medium sized strawberries in each punnet.

So 35 pence for a strawberry? I think not – no matter how good they looked.

Sometimes I still have a currency converter in my head that I developed for the tuck shop at school.

Can you picture how many ‘swetchies’ you’d get for the price of one strawberry?

After writing this sentence, I Googled how much a Chomp costs now. I was sure it was still 10p and was planning to use the line “one berry cost the same as three and a half Chomps”.

Turns out they’re actually 25p, which shows how much I’ve kept tabs on inflation – or indeed how much time has actually passed since I was at school.